Carnes Barn restoration underway

By Stefan Rogenmoser The Independent

Stefan Rogenmoser/Independent
Bill McKenzie and Julie Dombrowski of the Daniel Island Company talk about remodeling the Dallas V. Carnes Barn at Carnes Crossroads in Goose Creek.

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The historic Dallas V. Carnes Barn at Carnes Crossroads is being remodeled into a pavilion.

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This rendering shows what the barn should look like after being refurbished.

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There were six horse stables inside the barn.

The green barn at Carnes Crossroads should be rebuilt in the next 60 to 90 days.The well known Berkeley County structure will serve as a pavilion and gathering place for the Carnes Crossroads community, where residents can hold meetings and picnics. That’s according to Daniel Island Company’s Communications Director Julie Dombrowski and VP of Development Bill McKenzie.They said Carnes Crossroads is set to become a community similar to Daniel Island with a small town feel that has retail, parks, trails and corporate offices.The 4,000-square-foot Dallas V. Carnes Barn is in the Goose Creek city limits. For years the barn has been visible to commuters near the intersection of U.S.-17A and U.S.-176.McKenzie said the Daniel Island Company thought of turning the barn into offices but realized that would limit its enjoyment to a few people. “It will be a pavilion-like structure, more open air with the ability to enclose during the cold,” McKenzie said. “It’s designed to be flexible.”In 2009 the barn was moved a few hundred yards to its current location near the Carnes Crossroads Information Center.“It’s a little more complicated than starting from scratch,” McKenzie said. “We’re trying to reuse as much as we can. Some of the wood was rotten. The doors are being reworked.”“We felt it was important to keep it because it’s historic,” Dombrowski said.“There really wasn’t a whole lot to it,” McKenzie said. “It has a second floor, but we’re not going to utilize it.”Hill Construction is doing the renovations with architectural designs by Stubbs-Muldrow-Herin.The barn’s first owner of record was absentee owner Joseph Thorowgood in 1682, according to an archeological report by Brockington & Associates.The land has had several owners since, including more recently Dallas V. Carnes (for whom the barn and crossroads is named) and Howard C. Prettyman, who appears to have built the barn in the late 1930s.Carnes died prior to 1931. In 1938 Berkeley County Sheriff P.E. Myers Jr. sold Carnes’ estate to Prettyman.Prettyman was a Summerville timber man who acquired several thousand acres of local forests for use in his mill, H.C. Prettyman and Sons, according to the archeological report.The Carnes Barn is a transverse-crib horse barn with a metal gambrel roof, according to the report describing the original barn. The two-story structure has a large, open hayloft about 12 stalls and various storage rooms.It is a prime example of agricultural architectural styles from the early 20th century.The barn has had continual upkeep. The report indicates the roof has some wind damage and some of the foundation piles exhibit damage from termite infestation. Overall, the barn is in good condition for its age, the report continues.Two ventilators along the ridgeline provide air circulation to the hayloft. Each ventilator has a lightning rod with grounding wires running down each barn corner.The structure measures 79 feet north to south and 34 feet east to west. The two main doors are 10 feet, 6 inches wide and are on both ends of the barn. The doors slide on overhead hardware.The east elevation has six Dutch stall doors constructed of battens. The west elevation has six stall doors and one batten door on the north end that provides the only pedestrian entrance.

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